Health & Medicine

Schizophrenia has long been known in the art, but the causes of the disease remain unknown.

many factors influence the development of schizophrenia.The main of them - heredity, adverse environmental conditions, a violation of brain structure and imbalance of chemicals in it.

Heredity and environment

Scientists have long known that schizophrenia is distributed within families.The disease is diagnosed in 1% of the world population, but 10% of patients have a first-order relatives (parents, siblings) with schizophrenia.

Those with sick family members of the second order (uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins ​​and sisters), are also more likely to suffer from schizophrenia.

greatest risk are in identical twins, if one of them is ill with schizophrenia.The probability of schizophrenia in this case is 40-65%.People

inherit a genetic predisposition to occurrence of schizophrenia, rather than the disease itself.

Scientists believe that there are several genes associated with increased risk for sch

izophrenia, but genes alone are responsible for the occurrence of the disease is not present.

Other research suggests that schizophrenia may in part be due to dysfunction of specific genes that are key to the formation of important chemicals that provide functions of the brain - the neurotransmitters.

This in turn can affect the part of the brain that is responsible for higher mental functions.Research in this area is ongoing, and is to give a forecast about the development of the disease on the basis of genetic analysis is not possible.

Scientists know yet, not all genetic variations that contribute to the development of schizophrenia.Those which are already known to increase the risk slightly.

Thus, the so-called genome scan offered by some unscrupulous companies are unlikely to determine the human predisposition to the development of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.

External factors

Adverse environmental conditions - a prerequisite for the development of schizophrenia.

Many environmental factors, such as viral infections or malnutrition of the fetus in utero, problems during childbirth, stress in childhood, discrimination, poverty, and the other is not yet known psychosocial factors can cause (or triggering factor)schizophrenia.

Differences structures and chemical processes in the brain

Scientists believe that the imbalance in the complex chemical processes of the brain involving the neurotransmitters dopamine, glutamate and possibly other plays a role in the development of schizophrenia.Neurotransmitters

- a biologically active chemicals through which an electrical pulse is transmitted neurons and interact with each other.

A detailed examination of schizophrenic brain is different from a healthy human brain.For example, the brain ventricles (fluid filled cavity) the patient is bigger.Also in patients with schizophrenia observed fewer gray matter, and some areas of the brain characterized by the activity level.

studies of brain tissue after death have also shown the presence of features in patients with schizophrenia.Scientists found small changes in distribution or characteristics of brain cells, which are likely to have occurred before birth.

Some experts believe that the problems of brain development before birth may lead to the formation of neural networks violation (neurons chains, providing nerve impulse).Prior to the onset of puberty, these problems can not be shown.The brain undergoes dramatic changes during adolescence, and these changes could trigger psychotic symptoms deviations.

Currently schizophrenia is well known and studied by experts, but it is not enough to explain the causes and, accordingly, the methods of prevention of this disease.